The Impossible Girls
by TwoHeartedWallflower
Summary: AU. Little Amelia Pond dreams of a magic Doctor while little Clara Oswald dreams of traveling. What will happen when Clara moves into the empty house by Amelia's? Watch as they and their friendship grows over the years leading up to the Doctor's return. May be rated T later.
1. The First Meeting

June 20th, 1996

School was out for the small town of Leadworth. This meant the children were free to roam around the village to their hearts' content. On bright, sunny days like this where the weather was warm but not blazingly hot, especially with the slight breeze and the only clouds in the sky were big puffy white clouds that made funny shapes, most children were at the playground. It wasn't a very grand playground with only one slide, monkey bars tinged with years of rust, squeaky seesaws and one swing always broken but the children loved it. Today it seemed as if every child wanted to go to the playground. Every child that is, except one.

Amelia Pond was running away. Again.

She had gotten in another row with her Aunt Sharon about the Raggedy Doctor. No one ever believed her, not even her best friends, Rory and Mels. Mind you, they were the only friends she had as the other children were rather intimidated by the little Scottish girl. Rory and Mels would play along but neither thought the magic Doctor was real. Amelia had been telling her Aunt Sharon about a dream she had about the Doctor but her Aunt Sharon was less than enthusiastic to hear her niece talk about her imaginary friend again. She told Amelia for what seemed like the hundredth time, there's no such thing as time travel or the Doctor. Amelia refused to believe her, insisting he was real and shouting other insults at her Aunt. After a shouting match, she was sent to her room and Aunt Sharon called her friend Harriet who knew a good psychiatrist from the city.

"I just don't know what to do with her, honestly. All this talk about the Raggedy Doctor is getting ridiculous. She's almost eight for Pete's sake," Aunt Sharon sighed.

"She's still a child Sharon. She's probably just doing it for attention. It must've been hard on her, loosing her parents," Harriet said.

"I know but this is too far. Do you know how many times her school called me since she started talking about him?" Aunt Sharon began her usual rant and Amelia knew she'd be busy for awhile. So she packed a bag and snuck out the front door.

Amelia had run away twice before. She never went very far. She always found a spot where she couldn't be seen from the house but had a good view of the lawn incase the Doctor came back for her. He promised he would come back and she was holding him to that promise.

Amelia saw a tree across the road that seemed perfect. The house the tree was in the yard of had been empty as long as she had lived here. She had to stand on her suitcase to reach the first branch but otherwise she had no problems climbing up it. She sat happily in the tree about eight feet in the air. She had brought her toy Police Box with her. She has made it in art class a month ago and gotten a gold star from her art teacher who seemed to find the little girl's stories amusing.

Amelia held the box out in front of her so it appeared as if it had just landed in her yard, Raggedy Doctor waiting inside ready to whisk her away to have adventures. She tried to imitate the whirring and whooshing noises it had made. She was so caught up dreaming of the blue box that she didn't notice the round, brown eyes watching from under her.

* * *

Clara Oswald wanted to travel. She had wanted to travel ever since the day she found that big book with a leaf in it. So when her father told her they were moving to Leadworth, she had been excited. She stared out the window at the place she would now call home. It wasn't as large as Clara imagined but it was pretty. She saw dozens of children running around on a small playground. A blonde haired boy playing in a willow tree with another boy, looked over at Clara. She waved to him and after a moment, he waved back a little shyly. Clara would definitely have to see find him again later.

Her parents pulled up to their new house and Clara could hardly pull her eyes away. It was an off-white colour with ivy lacing up the side of the house. The roof was a dark brown with a shingle or two missing and the once green shudders had faded drastically, one hanging onto the window by a thread. A once flourishing flower garden had long ago been overtaken by weeds. Now it looked like a tangle mess of brown sticks. Moss clung to the stone pathway towards the door which was a large dark colour, in shadows from the arch that loomed over it, sticking out a few inches.

"I know it's a lot different then our old house," her father started but was quickly cut off by Clara

"I love it," she said, hopping out of the car, book clutched to her chest. The house was big and old but new to her. She grabbed her backpack and ran to the door, waiting for her father to open it. As soon as he did, Clara rushed inside, ready to explore her new home.

The movers arrived an hour after the Oswalds did. Clara's mum encouraged her to explore the backyard while the movers brought in their furniture. Clara grinned at the idea and went out back, staying out of the adults' way and entertaining herself. She found a birdbath with dirty water and more weed infested gardens. There was a tree that would grow apples with branches far out of the reach of the small seven year old.

She was about to pull the cover off what once was a pool when she heard a noise. A noise that she would never be able to describe but would never be able to forget either. Coming from high above her, she lifted her head, expecting a bird or animal of sorts in one of the trees. But what she saw was neither and made her eyes widen.

In the tree was a girl with coppery hair but with the way the sun caught it, appeared so brightly orange like fire or the sun itself. She was holding a bright blue box out in front of her and squinting her eyes, as if concentrating very hard could make the box do something. She had left her suitcase beneath her, at least Clara assumed it was hers. The girl was strange, unlike anyone she'd met before. But Clara couldn't help watching her. Curiosity bubbled up inside her and unable to contain herself, she spoke up.

"Why are you in a tree?"

Amelia turned her head quickly, not recognising the voice. She saw a small brown haired girl looking back at her curiously with innocent, doe like eyes. Amy hadn't seen her before and she had seen most kids her age in Leadworth. She let her arm fall but held the blue box close to her.

"I'm running away," she answered. The girl looked at her in confusion.

"If you're running away then why are you in a tree?" she asked.

"So my Aunt Sharon won't see me," Amelia said, nodding her head towards her home across the street.

The girl still looked puzzled. "If you were running away, you'd be running. But you're not running, you're hiding," she said trying to piece it together. She looked up at her. "Shouldn't that mean you're hiding away?"

"No," Amelia said a bit forcefully and a tad irritated. "I'm waiting for someone. The Raggedy Doctor." She paused, waiting for the look of recognition to cross her face. She was infamous in Leadworth. The mad, Scottish girl who always talked about the Raggedy Doctor. Everyone knew and avoid her for this. But the girl's face never changed so she continued. "He's a time traveler. He has this police box that looks like this but bigger and it's a time machine"

Her eyes widened. "A time machine? A real one?" she asked eagerly. Amelia smiled and nodded. Clara stood on the suitcase, trying to reach the lowest branch but she was a bit shorter than Amelia and it was just out of her reach. Amelia climbed down a little and offered her hand. She pulled up the girl and they climbed a little higher.

"I'm Clara Oswald," the brown haired girl said, giving Amelia a smile.

"Amelia Pond," Amelia said, returning the girl's smile.

"Are you Scottish?" Clara asked. Amelia sighed and glowered a little.

"Yeah but my Aunt Sharon and I moved here. It's rubbish!" Amelia complained, the familiarity of her words hitting her. She had took the Raggedy Doctor the same thing. Her mind was starting to wonder off to the night he dropped out of the sky when Clara's words pulled her back down to reality.

"I think it's nice here. Quaint," Clara said, using a word she'd heard her mother use before. It sounded funny and pretty. Like the noises Amelia had been making. A new question formed in her mind and the inquisitive seven year old couldn't help but ask, "Why were you making those noises before?"

"That's the noise the box makes," Amelia explained. She relayed the story of how the night the blue box landed on her shed and the magical man inside. She enjoying being able to tell her story and not being interrupted or made fun of. Clara listened intently, facial expressions displaying her amazement at Amelia's adventure with this Raggedy Doctor. She even let out a little yelp as Amelia described the crack in her wall opening up.

A few hours later, Mrs. Oswald found her daughter talking animatedly with the Scottish girl about the adventures they would have together with the Doctor in the blue box. After getting both girls out of the tree and Aunt Sharon meeting the Oswalds, the girls went their separate ways. Clara told her parents about meeting Amelia and her tales of the magic Doctor over dinner and unpacked her room a little while Amelia ignored her aunt's lecture during dinner then went back to working on a drawing of herself and the Doctor with the blue box. As Ellie Oswald kissed her daughter good night and Amelia prayed to Santa, both girls thought of each other. Both had found a new friend they both desperately needed. And what a beautiful friendship it would become.


	2. Mels and Rory

It had been a month since Clara had become Amelia's neighbour and the two had become very close friends. The day after the girls' meeting, Clara had shown up on Amy's doorstep. Her parents needed to keep her out of the way while they moved a few things and got a surprise for Clara which turned out to be a canopy bed she had been admiring at the furniture store down the street from their old house. The girls spent the day running around the large house, far too large for just Amelia and her aunt but Clara didn't think too hard on this. The next day, Amelia had shown up on the Oswald's doorstep. She and Clara explored the new-old house at Clara's mother had called it. The days went on like this, the girls alternating where they were depending on what Aunt Sharon and the Oswald's were doing but honestly, Clara preferred going over to Amelia's house.

It was a pleasant day but the two girls were in Amelia's room. Clara loved the blue colour of her walls. It was almost hard to tell what colour they were as her wall was plastered with multiple sketches of Amelia and her magic Doctor and other things but manly the Doctor, Amelia and the blue box. One wall was quite bare though and both girls had climbed onto Amelia's desk to stare at a spot on the wall that to an outsider, looked just like any other wall. But to Amelia, this wall had held the one thing that had scared her more than anything else in her life. Clara looked at the wall, eyes filled with intrigue and slight fear.

"Is that where it was?" Clara asked. Amelia nodded. She traced her finger along where the crack had been in her wall. Clara followed her gesture, trying to imagine the wall opening up to a giant eye. She shivered. She would never be able to look at cracks the same way again.

"What are you two doing?"

The girls spun around to see a dark skinned girl standing in Amelia's doorway, arms crossed over her chest. Clara had met Mels a few times but wasn't fond of having the girl around. She was rude and Clara saw the way she rolled her eyes behind Amelia's back when she talked about the Raggedy Doctor.

"I was showing Clara where the crack was," Amelia said, hopping down off of the desk. Clara imitated her, frowning at Mels as she snorted and rolled her eyes but joined the two girls as Amelia opened her chest filled with her Doctor related objects made by Amelia.

"I thought we were supposed to be playing hide-and-seek with Rory," Mels said, giving Amelia a pointed look. She ignored her friend as she handed Clara a Raggedy Doctor she had made by painting over a doll. Clara admired the doll, imagining what he'd look like in person.

"Clara came over and I got distracted," Amelia explained. Clara blushed a little, feeling like an intruder. Amelia noticed and gave her friend a small smile. "It's not like we actually look for him anyways."

Clara felt a little relieved. "Who's Rory?" she asked.

"A friend," Amy said dismissively. Mels opened her mouth to say something but Clara cut her off, earning herself a glare.

"Why haven't you covered up where the crack was?" she asked. "Doesn't it still scare you?"

Amelia hesitated so Mels took it upon herself to answer for her. "No, stupid, Amelia's not a scaredy-cat like you," she sneered, snatching the Doctor doll from her hands.

"I am not stupid. Or a scaredy-cat," Clara protested but Mels ignored her. She stared at the doll.

"Is he hot?" she asked Amelia. Her answer was cut off by the door bursting open. A small blonde haired boy with blue eyes came in, clearly upset. He was shorter than Amelia, very close to Clara. His hair was rather long for a boys and cut strangely. His shirt was crumpled from wherever he'd been hiding.

"I thought we were playing hide-and-seek. I've been hiding for hours," he said, eyes on Amelia alone.

"We are but Clara came over and we were going to restart the game but we couldn't find you," Amelia lied effortlessly. Clara got the feeling this wasn't the first time she'd done this nor would it be the last. The blonde haired boy looked at Clara and a sudden realisation hit her.

"I saw you," she said. "When I moved here, we drove by the park and you were playing in a willow. You waved back at me." Rory looked at her for a moment until he recognised the girl. "I'm Clara Oswald."

"Rory Williams," he said a little shyly. Clara smiled at him and he returned it.

"Let's start our new game," Mels said. "I probably don't have much longer till they realise I've gone here."

"You didn't tell your parents?" Clara asked, shocked. Mels gave her a cold look.

"They're not my parents. I don't have to tell them anything," she insisted stubbornly. Clara and Rory gave her a disapproving look as both loved their parents very much. Amelia looked more like she could agree and sympathise with Mels. She didn't like listening to her Aunt Sharon almost as much as Mels and her adopted parents. "Let's just start our game," Mels said.

"I'll be it," Amelia offered. Rory and Clara agreed but Mels did not.

"I think Clara should be it," Mels said. "You know this house better than anyone. Clara doesn't so it'll be a challenge for her."

Amelia was about to protest but Clara cut in. "Okay, I'll be it." She could tell Mels was trying to intimidate her. Why this girl she barely knew hated her so much was a mystery to her but Clara wasn't afraid of her. Maybe a little.

Amelia gave in and Clara covered her eyes and turned around. She could hear stampeding feet as the others ran off. She heard what she thought was Mels shout something and footsteps coming back towards the room but continued counting until she reached two hundred. She turned around and was surprised to see hazel eyes staring back at her.

"Amelia? Why aren't you hiding?" Clara asked. She hoped they weren't going to just leave Rory again. He seemed really nice to her, even if he was a little shy.

"Aunt Sharon got a call. She's taking Mels and Rory home," Amelia said. "You hungry?" Clara paused for a minute, surprised by the change of subject but realised she was. She nodded and followed the Scottish girl down the stairs to the kitchen.

As Amelia stuck her head in the fridge to search for something, Clara's attention was caught by an apple sitting on the counter. A smiley face looked back at her from the fruit. She picked up the apple and turned to Amelia. "What's this?" she asked

Amelia pulled her head back and looked at the apple. "I used to hate apples so my mum would draw faces on them," Amelia said looking at the apple. "He thought apples were rubbish too."

"Where is your mum? I've never seen her. Or your dad. Are they on vacation?" Clara asked. This question had been on Clara's mind for awhile but she had always been busy running around with the other girl to stop and ask her. The question always seemed to slip her mind when talk of the Doctor and all the magical adventures they could have occurred.

"I don't have a mum and dad. I lost them," Amelia said. Clara's eyes widened and she almost dropped the apple in her hand.

"You lost them?" Clara repeated to which Amelia nodded. She didn't like to talk about it. Clara shivered. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost my parents," Clara confessed in a whisper, "I've lost my pencils, my school bag, my gran but never my parents. I'd be so scared. You're really brave."

Amelia saw Clara was shaken and threw a box at her. Clara barely managed to catch it. She read the side of the box. "Fish fingers," she paused and looked up at Amelia holding a box of custard. A smile lit up the small girls face as she realised what Amelia was doing.

"Come on, we need to turn on the stove," Amelia said, pulling out a pan.

"Are you sure we should be using the stove without your Aunt?" Clara asked cautiously.

"Of course, I've done it before. I haven't ever burned the house down. It'll be fine," Amelia said dismissively. Clara shrugged, her answer good enough for Clara and set about helping make fish custard.

After spilling half a bowl of custard on the floor, failing to open the fish fingers box four times before Amelia decided to get a knife and stab the box which almost resulted in Clara losing a finger and Amelia trying out some more colourful words when she forgot to use oven mitts to pull out the fish fingers, the girls finally had their fish custard. While the gooey yellow custard and crispy brown fish fingers looked utterly weird to Clara, they tasted surprisingly good. Amelia got a laugh out of the face Clara made when she first tried the fish custard, emotions changing from disgusted to confused to surprised to enjoyment. The two girls ate happily, talking, laughing and going through the kitchen until they heard a small voice cry out.

"Someone help me!"

Clara locked eyes with Amelia. "I thought you said your Aunt Sharon took Rory home!"

"I thought she was going to take him home with Mels but I didn't really pay attention to what she said," Amy admitted.

The girls abandoned their dishes and ran through the house until they found poor Rory, having climbed on top of Aunt Sharon's wardrobe then suddenly realised how high up he was. He looked at the girls, laying flat on his stomach, hanging onto the top of the dresser, a look of utter terror on his face.

"We need something soft for him to land on," Clara said when Rory refused to climb down. She looked around the room until her eyes landed on the perfect cushion. "Amelia, help me with this," Clara said as she started stripping Aunt Sharon's bed. Amelia happily helped tear away the blankets and sheets.

Once the mattress was bare, they dragged it over to the wardrobe. "All you have to do is roll over the edge onto the mattress. Easy," Clara explained. The idea didn't seems so great to Rory though and he didn't move a muscle. If anything, he held on tighter.

"Rory, fall onto the mattress or I'll come up there and push you down," Amelia threatened impatiently. Rory, much more scared of the mad Scottish girl than falling, rolled over the edge onto the mattress. He braced himself for impact but was relieved to have a relatively soft landing. He looked up to see Clara leaning over, smiling at him. He smiled back weakly, looking a little dazed and sheepish. She laughed and he couldn't help laughing too. Amelia joined in as the girls flopped onto the mattress with Rory. Once they stopped laughing, Amelia turned over and whispered in Clara's ear. The girl looked at Amelia uncertainly and Amelia nodded. They looked at Rory. The poor boy didn't stand a chance.

Aunt Sharon came home a few minutes later to find the kitchen a mess. There was custard splattered on the floor, plates and bowls still sitting in front of pushed out chairs, the oven and fridge doors wide open and the oven still on and that was just the first things she noticed. At least one pan had been tossed near the sink. Loud yells from upstairs indicated the culprits. Sighing, Aunt Sharon headed towards the stairs but found them blocked.

A mattress came flying down the stairs, three screaming children on board. Amelia screamed out of excitement, Rory out of terror and Clara somewhere in the middle. Rory was dressed as the Raggedy Doctor, clinging to Amelia, Clara holding onto him. The mattress landed at the bottom of the stairs and Amelia lurched forward. Her fists clenched around the front of the mattress stopped the girl from falling of entirely and she just ended up upside down. Clara and Rory fell flat on the mattress. Amelia noticed her aunt standing over her and her wide, wild grin disappeared. Clara and Rory paled, afraid of how Aunt Sharon would react.

"Room. Now," Aunt Sharon said. Amelia frowned.

"But Aunt Sharon," Amelia started but was cut off.

"Now or you're grounded," she warned. Amelia glared at her. She sighed as her stubborn niece.

"You don't want to go to your room? Fine. You can clean up the kitchen and put this mattress back where it came from," Aunt Sharon said. Amelia knew she wouldn't get another option so she went to the kitchen, scowling. At least cleaning beat being grounded.

Clara got up to follow. "No Clara, you don't have to help," Aunt Sharon said.

"But I made part of the mess," Clara said, feeling slightly guilty. Aunt Sharon gave her a small smile.

"I'm sure Amelia can handle it. You need to get you two home. You can see Amelia tomorrow," Aunt Sharon said. Clara nods and reluctantly followed. Rory pulled off the Doctor costume and walked with Clara. They walked in silence, partially due to Clara feeling guilty about the mess, partially because Rory was extremely awkward, especially when it came to talking to people.

When they reached the Clara's house, Aunt Sharon talked to Ellie Oswald who was planning on having a small party. While they were talking, Clara turned to Rory.

"Sorry about not looking for you. Amelia thought you left with Mels and Aunt Sharon," Clara apologised.

"It's alright. They usually don't find me for a long time when we play hide-and-seek," Rory said. Clara felt bad for him. He was either oblivious to what Amelia and Mels did or he didn't care and put up with it. Clara couldn't see why he'd put up with it so he must be oblivious. He was really nice though. "Thanks for coming up with the mattress idea to get me down," he said sheepishly. Looking back on it, Rory was rather embarrassed by what happened. Clara just smiled at him.

"That's alright. You climbed really high. I could never get up there. If I did, I'd be pretty scared too," Clara said, cheering Rory up a little.

"Come on Rory, time for you to get home," Aunt Sharon said, interrupting their conversation. Rory nodded then turned back to Clara.

"Bye," he said. He was rather surprised when Clara hugged him. She was surprisingly strong. He awkwardly hugged her back.

"Bye Rory!" Clara said as she pulled away. "You can come over anytime. My dad said we're going to fill the pool soon!"

Rory smiled as Aunt Sharon led him back to the Pond house where he got in Aunt Sharon's car and was driven home. As she drove by Clara's house, he saw the girl on her front lawn with a flower crown her mother made her. She was laughing with her mother then turned and saw him. She grinned and waved to him enthusiastically, running down her front yard to try and keep them in sight. He waved back until she was just a speck in the distance.

Clara Oswald pushed her flower crown out of her eyes as she looked at where the car had been. Mels may not like her but she was pretty sure she had just made another friend.


End file.
